Acer Aspire one network connection

Trig · 04-26-2009, 08:11 AM

Hi.

I hope this is a simple enquiry - I suspect it may be a broken internal element which I'll have to have repaired, but before I do that, I'd be grateful for any advice - I've heard the Acers have had connection problems in the past.

We run 2 computers through a wireless router. The Acer has stopped talking to the router. There is no icon in the sys tray. Flicking the connection switch makes no difference. Double clicking the "Connection" icon pulls up a Mozilla Firefox screen, rather than our Tiscali IP home page, and entering any website address into the Firefox screen gives a message saying the server can't be found.

I've tried all the basics - rebooting, RTFM, etc - and the other computer we use is still operating over the router.

Many thanks in anticipation

The Acer is running
Linpus Linux Lite v1.0.9.E
on
Intel (R) Atom (TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GH

billconner · 04-26-2009, 12:52 PM

If there's no connection then you won't see the router. Right-click the tray icon and click connect. You should see the wireless routers the wireless card on the machine recognizes. If there are none, go to to System -> Device Manager, find the wireless card and right-click to uninstall it. Now on the Actions tab click on the re-scan option so Windows can re-install the wireless card. This works fairly often.

When you're able to download again, get Netstumbler to find nearby wireless access points. Also check that the wireless router isn't filtering by MAC address or otherwise drops connections to your machine. Enable DHCP if it isn't already.

Bill

Trig · 04-29-2009, 02:36 PM

Many thanks Bill, it's good of you to try to help. Unfortunately I can't make any of the suggestions work. Can I just check whether you're talking about Windows rather than Linux? Paul

billconner · 04-30-2009, 09:43 AM

I was assuming Windows but I dual boot Linux and use Linux most of the time. Your wireless router will be configured for Windows and use Windows teminology most likely. You need to set the ESSID to match on both ends of the connection. Same with the channel and encryption (PSA/2 TKIP most likely). The PSA key is case sensitive.

If the router broadcasts then it should show up as an available network when the network icon is right-clicked (Windows). In Windows you can use Hardware Manager to uninstall and re-install the wireless card which may work. Soetimes you can open the Network Places, right-click the wireless icon and click disable and then enable it again.

It may also be that router isn't assigned IP info. type "ipconfig /renew" to force the router to re-try DHCP. You can also assign a static IP using the wireless card's "properties" option. Enter an address in the router's address range, assign the router as the default gateway. Use the ISP DNS server IP address for the name server.

You should be able to access the router with a browser by just entering its IP address. Check the settings there and make sure the settings on Wiindows match -exactly-. Let me know how it goes so I can learn something ...

Bill

Trig · 05-12-2009, 02:17 PM

Bill, not sure if you got my reply to yours of 30th April. Unfortunately none of this has worked and I think my only option is to return it to the vendor. Many thanks Paul

**wmorri** · 05-13-2009, 11:07 AM

Hi,

Trig, the one thing I would like you to try before you return it to the vendor. I would like you to open a terminal. Then type the following.

Code:

ifconfig

You should hopefully get something like this:

Code:

[will@localhost ~]$ ifconfig
eth0      Link encap:Ethernet  HWaddr 00:0E:A6:84:CD:D6
          inet addr:192.168.1.100  Bcast:192.168.1.255  Mask:255.255.255.0
          inet6 addr: fe80::20e:a6ff:fe84:cdd6/64 Scope:Link
          UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST  MTU:1500  Metric:1
          RX packets:30774 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:20737 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
          RX bytes:33591322 (32.0 MiB)  TX bytes:2244362 (2.1 MiB)
          Interrupt:23 Base address:0x4000

lo        Link encap:Local Loopback
          inet addr:127.0.0.1  Mask:255.0.0.0
          inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
          UP LOOPBACK RUNNING  MTU:16436  Metric:1
          RX packets:4114 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
          TX packets:4114 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
          collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
          RX bytes:1954748 (1.8 MiB)  TX bytes:1954748 (1.8 MiB)

If you don't then it sounds like there is definitely something wrong and going back to see the vendor and asking them about it would make sense.

Cheers!

billconner · 05-13-2009, 03:29 PM

In Linux type (as root most likely):

ifconfig eth0 down
ifconfig eth0 up

Try to ping the router:

ping 192.168.1.1 (the router's IP address)

if you see "network unreachable" then type:

service network restart (Fedora, Red Hat).

If you can ping the router then your NIC is probably not the problem. Try to connect via your browser and verify that the router has a WAN address (assigned by your ISP to the router. The router then assigns an IP to your NIC and, probably, uses NAT to talk to the world). You should be able to reset the router to factory defaults and get a sane configuration.

Bill

04-26-2009, 08:11 AM	#1 (permalink)
Trig Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3 OS: linux	Acer Aspire one network connection Hi. I hope this is a simple enquiry - I suspect it may be a broken internal element which I'll have to have repaired, but before I do that, I'd be grateful for any advice - I've heard the Acers have had connection problems in the past. We run 2 computers through a wireless router. The Acer has stopped talking to the router. There is no icon in the sys tray. Flicking the connection switch makes no difference. Double clicking the "Connection" icon pulls up a Mozilla Firefox screen, rather than our Tiscali IP home page, and entering any website address into the Firefox screen gives a message saying the server can't be found. I've tried all the basics - rebooting, RTFM, etc - and the other computer we use is still operating over the router. Many thanks in anticipation The Acer is running Linpus Linux Lite v1.0.9.E on Intel (R) Atom (TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GH

04-26-2009, 12:52 PM	#2 (permalink)
billconner Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10 OS: vista, Fedora	Re: Acer Aspire one network connection If there's no connection then you won't see the router. Right-click the tray icon and click connect. You should see the wireless routers the wireless card on the machine recognizes. If there are none, go to to System -> Device Manager, find the wireless card and right-click to uninstall it. Now on the Actions tab click on the re-scan option so Windows can re-install the wireless card. This works fairly often. When you're able to download again, get Netstumbler to find nearby wireless access points. Also check that the wireless router isn't filtering by MAC address or otherwise drops connections to your machine. Enable DHCP if it isn't already. Bill

04-29-2009, 02:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
Trig Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3 OS: linux	Re: Acer Aspire one network connection Many thanks Bill, it's good of you to try to help. Unfortunately I can't make any of the suggestions work. Can I just check whether you're talking about Windows rather than Linux? Paul

04-30-2009, 09:43 AM	#4 (permalink)
billconner Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10 OS: vista, Fedora	Re: Acer Aspire one network connection I was assuming Windows but I dual boot Linux and use Linux most of the time. Your wireless router will be configured for Windows and use Windows teminology most likely. You need to set the ESSID to match on both ends of the connection. Same with the channel and encryption (PSA/2 TKIP most likely). The PSA key is case sensitive. If the router broadcasts then it should show up as an available network when the network icon is right-clicked (Windows). In Windows you can use Hardware Manager to uninstall and re-install the wireless card which may work. Soetimes you can open the Network Places, right-click the wireless icon and click disable and then enable it again. It may also be that router isn't assigned IP info. type "ipconfig /renew" to force the router to re-try DHCP. You can also assign a static IP using the wireless card's "properties" option. Enter an address in the router's address range, assign the router as the default gateway. Use the ISP DNS server IP address for the name server. You should be able to access the router with a browser by just entering its IP address. Check the settings there and make sure the settings on Wiindows match -exactly-. Let me know how it goes so I can learn something ... Bill

05-12-2009, 02:17 PM	#5 (permalink)
Trig Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 3 OS: linux	Re: Acer Aspire one network connection Bill, not sure if you got my reply to yours of 30th April. Unfortunately none of this has worked and I think my only option is to return it to the vendor. Many thanks Paul

05-13-2009, 03:29 PM	#7 (permalink)
billconner Registered User Join Date: Apr 2009 Posts: 10 OS: vista, Fedora	Re: Acer Aspire one network connection In Linux type (as root most likely): ifconfig eth0 down ifconfig eth0 up Try to ping the router: ping 192.168.1.1 (the router's IP address) if you see "network unreachable" then type: service network restart (Fedora, Red Hat). If you can ping the router then your NIC is probably not the problem. Try to connect via your browser and verify that the router has a WAN address (assigned by your ISP to the router. The router then assigns an IP to your NIC and, probably, uses NAT to talk to the world). You should be able to reset the router to factory defaults and get a sane configuration. Bill